How do you send general delivery mail to Canada?

[Russell Clifton]

I want to have some mail sent to me while traveling in Canada. I want it sent to a location ahead of me so I don't have to wait days for it to arrive. All I can find on the internet is you need to go to the post office and fill out some paper work and all is good. But I have not arrived at that location yet.

Have any of you done this? I have successfully done this with mail to Alaska but Canada is a different country.

 

[alormaria]

I waited until I arrived at a marina and had my mail overnighted to me by the place receiving my mail in the states. They also did some preliminary tossing of junk mail.

 

[leeman]

Be advised, mail in and to Canada is very slow. Don't remotely compare it to the USPS.

 

[MurrayM]

Be advised, mail in and to Canada is very slow. Don't remotely compare it to the USPS.

Are you sure about that? Anyways, We’re a much larger country with 1/10th the population...

 

[menzies]

Have you checked with St Brendan's Isle?

 

[MurrayM]

I found the Canada Post web page you were referencing in your first post. Seems like that is for when you are staying in one place for a while.

When we sea kayaked the coast we sent dried food packages ahead, and never had to register at the post office because we were typically in town for only one day. All we had to do is ask if there was anything there for us in General Delivery, and show some I.D.

Also, pretty sure you will have to go to the actual Post Office and not some drug store sub-contractor.

We addressed them to:

ourselves
General Delivery
Town Post Office
Town, Province
postal code
Canada
*Please hold for pickup*

Not sure about that last bit anymore...there may be a time limit on how long things will be held now. Will check tomorrow.


For more information try calling:
In Canada
1-866-607-6301
Outside of Canada:
416-979-3033

 

[BandB]

The only way I would consider is to have someone collect your mail in the US and then forward it by an overnight or two day carrier, either FEDEX or UPS.

When we travel, we have very little mail sent to us. Our mail is opened and scanned, much like St. Brendan's Isle does. Then if there is something we need the original for (which is extremely rare) we have that overnighted to us.

 

[Lou_tribal]

If you know the location where you want that to be sent why not to call them and arrange it? You can send your mail to any destination if people there knows who you are. If a marina they may charge you some fees to keep your mail waiting for you.
Not sure about what kind of mail you need but another solution would be to see on the electronic form, you may get the mail scanned and emailed to you or directly send in electronic format.

L

 

[Maerin]

Fed Ex or UPS.
I had packages shipped ahead to Pictou during our Down East cruise. It was a comedy of errors. I had called the marina for a reservation about 2 weeks ahead, asked them specifically for a shipping address to have a package sent, told them the package would arrive before we did, and if they could hold it. Long story short, the kid on duty when the package arrived thought it was a scam, refused the delivery, and when we arrived, did not have a slip for us, vaguely remembered something about the conversation earlier, but was pretty air-headed. I was able to call Fed Ex, intercept the package before it got to the airport, and they re-delivered it- to the wrong address, on a Friday. No Saturday delivery, extended our stay 3 days to get the package (electronic CHS charts that I had to buy and have shipped from Baltimore!).



The take-away we learned is that if you want to have something shipped ahead, ride herd on it. Follow progress and make sure you follow up with phone calls or email to insure someone knows what's going on. Many marinas are accustomed to receiving parcels for boaters, and they take it in stride. Some others, not so much, particularly those in more off-the-beaten path locales.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. MM. As well as the vast distances and much smaller population you neglected to mention the Canadian postal stations:

And the postal delivery infrastructure: